on y va

Every January, when the greeting cards go on sale, I buy a box and put them in the desk drawer. I don't figure anybody will mind, or even know, the design is a year old by the time I mail them. But noticed on October 30 that woodyworld had already moved all the hallowe'en and fall stuff to one small aisle. Nothing discounted yet, but that probably happened at 12:01 AM the first of November.

There were five aisles of Christmas ornaments and employees were moving merchandise to make room for more. Trees galore. Stockings hanging from the rafters. Sparkly ribbons to decorate home and package abound. Wreaths of every type adorn all the end displays. Saw a young mother standing in the toy aisle, and put my hands over my ears to block the sound of the child in the basket screeching for an immediate purchase. DON'T WANT LAYAWAY WANT DOLLY NOW!

Television ads that have Christmas music in the background started running on Sunday afternoon. Poor Thanksgiving. The forgotten holiday.

I buy presents all year long. When I see something that I KNOW someone will like, I buy it right then and bring it home and store it in the holiday closet. MOF, not only is everything purchased well in advance, but I usually have it all wrapped and ready to put under the tree the first weekend in December when I decorate the house.

Today on the news I heard that this is expected to be the worst shopping season in history due to decreased spending. But I hear the same scare tactics every year. I'm sick of the annual dire economic forecasts, and tired of retailers who try to bully me. So this year I'm going to make it a point to NOT buy any gift between the last day of November and the first day of January. I'm sure my lack of purchase won't make a difference in the grand scheme of things. And I doubt that any of the economic gurus will notice, even if a bunch of us do it. But that's my suthren-country-tail and I'm sitting on it.